Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Mr. Reed (better than Ms.Polamalu - duh)


An article on ESPN today named "Five to Fear," 5 NFL players who force teams to alter their gameplans just by being on the field. A panel of 11 "experts" made up of GM's, players, scouts, and coaches came up with the list - Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Steve Smith, Randy Moss (crazy how much can change in a year), and Antonio Gates. While no Ravens made the list, the player coming closest was (surprise, surprise) Ed Reed.
From the article:
"Baltimore's Reed and Pittsburgh's Polamalu were the only safeties who came close to earning spots on the short list of scheme-changing players. Reed came closer than Polamalu.
Quarterbacks marvel at Reed's range and overall playmaking ability. An interception Reed made against San Francisco on Sunday left the 49ers in awe. Reed somehow picked off a short pass to the flanker after lining up in the middle of the field, as if he'd been in two places at once.
Polamalu moves around constantly and blitzes from various angles. He moves around so much that some offensive coordinators tell their quarterbacks not to worry about him too much. They would rather ignore Polamalu than let him bait them into guesswork.
In that sense, safeties can be wild cards to the extent that teams resist making significant changes to their plans for fear of outsmarting themselves.
"Polamalu is an issue in protection while Reed is a factor for the quarterback and where his throws are going," the defensive coordinator said. "He's supposed to be in the post, but he might be jumping a route on the other side of the field."
Two scouts believe even the greatest safeties are generally too far from the football on most plays to force significant changes to game plans. Quarterbacks disagreed, saying Reed could change what they do.
"Ed Reed is special," another GM said. "The guy at Pittsburgh [Polamalu] is really good, not overrated, but there are some holes in his game."
Well put, agrees the Nest. However, we also think they forgot to point out that teams need to account for Mr. Reed in punt blocking schemes as well. The fact that he has not blocked a punt in several years is a testament to teams scheming for his presence moreso than an indication of declining skill in this part of his game.

Read the whole article here:

5 comments:

ashley said...

Yeah #20!!!

Dewey said...

Thanks for the heads-up re: your blog. I'm adding you to my links.

Unknown said...

troy needs to learn how to tackle

Tracey said...

Troy Polamalu needs to get a haircut!!! I hope he gets pulled down and tackled by those dred locks. He can complain to the refs
"he pulled my hair". Pittsburgh whining sissy's lookout here come the Ravens.

Go Ed Reed, you can smell that football.

Stephen said...

I was tipped off by Dewey about your site... I run Ravens Touchdown (formerly The Purple Curtain).

I added you to my links, also.

I'm glad we've got more Ravens Bloggers out there!